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Mom tried to smuggle drugs to jailed daughter in tampons

By Ben Hooper
A tampon with a plastic applicator. A woman in Oregon pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle drugs to her incarcerated daughter by hiding them in tampon applicators taped to the back of a toilet. Photo by Kaldari/Wikimedia Commons
A tampon with a plastic applicator. A woman in Oregon pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle drugs to her incarcerated daughter by hiding them in tampon applicators taped to the back of a toilet. Photo by Kaldari/Wikimedia Commons

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PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An Oregon mother was sentenced to 30 days in jail for trying to smuggle meth and oxycodone to her incarcerated daughter by hiding the drugs in tampons.

Authorities said Elizabeth Kay Sparkman, 53, pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to conspiracy to supply contraband, delivery of meth and delivery of oxycodone after she tried to smuggle the drugs to her daughter Brandi Lynn Miller, 29, in March.

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Miller, who was arrested Jan. 15 on an identity theft charge, had obtained special permission to receive treatment at a dental clinic in Gresham and the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said Sparkman went in prior to Miller's appointment and taped tampon applicators filled with prescription painkiller oxycodone to the back of a toilet.

The sheriff's office said the tape came loose and deputies discovered the drug-filled applicators on the floor before Miller could get to them.

The report said Miller and Sparkman made plans for a second attempt using thinly-veiled code during a phone conversation and deputies intercepted Sparkman when she arrived at a Portland dental clinic to make the second drop. Deputies said she was in possession of a tampon applicator filled with 1 gram of methamphetamine and 18 oxycodone pills.

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Sparkman was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which Circuit Judge Christopher Marshall said she will be able to serve in an inpatient facility for drug and alcohol addiction treatment when a bed becomes available.

Miller, who was sentenced to four years in jail in the identity theft case, was sentenced to an additional 8 months in jail for her role in the smuggling attempt.

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